Barbourville Utilities is pleased to announce that TBS is now available in HD on channel 615! This HD channel addition comes just in time for college basketball fans as TBS will be broadcasting part of the NCAA March Madness Tournament.

The Barbourville Utility Commission strives to deliver quality Cable TV service at the lowest price possible. In recent years, the cost of programming has increased annually, and that trend continues to be the case for 2018 and upcoming years. This year, broadcasters such as Fox Sports, TLC, Nickelodeon, and USA have increased our fees by more than 7%. With packages already priced as low as possible, BUC is forced to increase cable rates to offset the increased programming charges.

Basic cable - from $59.70 to $64.00 monthly

Preferred cable - from $72.70 to $77.70 monthly

HD Plus - from $78.70 to $83.00 monthly

Additionally, local broadcast channels such as WDKY, WYMT, WLEX, and WTVQ have inflated their retransmission charges to providers such as BUC. In some instances, these stations have increased our monthly fees by almost 100%. As a result, BUC will be increasing the Monthly Broadcast Surcharge by $5.90.

Broadcast Surcharge - $17.46

The price increases are a pass through of increased programming costs to Barbourville Utilities. The new rates will be effective March 1, 2018. Despite these changes, our emphasis remains on the customer. Barbourville Utilities will continue to offer quality programming including local, digital, and high-definition channels. As always, we greatly appreciate your business and look forward to serving you in the future.

Barbourville Utilities, like all cable and satellite providers, is obligated to pay retransmission consent fees to local TV station broadcasters in order to transmit their signals. Barbourville Cable is currently in contract renegotiations with WATE 6, WYMT 57, WDKY FOX 56, WTVQ 36, WLEX 18, WKYT 27, WVLT 8, and WBIR 10. Our existing agreement will expire on December 31st, 2017.

The laws governing retransmission fees are part of the 1992 Cable Act. This Act was written at a time when competition among TV Providers was limited and the internet was in its infancy. Many TV Stations are abusing these outdated rules to boost profits, demanding rate increases that will ultimately be passed on to you, the viewer.

As Barbourville Cable nears the end of its current contract, local station owners are, in fact, making the request for exorbitant rate increases. However, we intend to maintain good-faith negotiations with WATE 6, WYMT 57, WDKY FOX 56, WTVQ 36, WLEX 18, WKYT 27, WVLT 8, WBIR 10 and we are optimistic that an agreement will be met before the expiration of our current contract. As your hometown cable provider, our goal will always be to offer more choice while keeping cost as low as possible. We will keep you updated as negotiations progress.

MINNEAPOLIS – October 3, 2017 - Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLFD), the specialist in fiber management for communication service providers, has partnered with Barbourville Utilities in Barbourville, Kentucky, to make Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) and unprecedented internet speeds a reality for thousands of residents in the rural Kentucky communities of Barbourville and Knox County. Barbourville Utilities is utilizing in-cassette splicing within Clearfield’s FieldSmart Fiber Scalability Center (FSC) 288-port Cabinet, as a means to lower the cost of deployment by removing traditional field splicing at the cabinet.